Advancing understanding of invasion ecology with Pines

SUSAN NUSKE; PAUL KARDOL; DAVID WARDLE; MARIE-CHARLOTTE NILSSON; JANE SMITH; ALEX FAJARDO; ANIBAL PAUCHARD; DUANE PELTZER; MARTIN NUÑEZ; JAIME MOYANO; MICHAEL GUNDALE

Curitiba

Congreso; XXV IUFRO Congress; 2019

International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO)

Plantation Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) invades productive pasture and native shrublands. We aim to understand the processes that drive this invasion. Our previous studies have linked soil microbiota to the success of Lodgepole pine invasion over factors like soil fertility or plant genotype. Our field study also found that Lodgepole pine fungal root endophytic communities were significantly different between: 1) native and introduced ranges, 2) plantations and matched invading ranges and 3) countries within the introduced southern hemisphere ranges. Seedlings of P. contorta were grown in soil from: a) native USA, b) introduced plantations and c) site-matched invasive ranges from three countries (n = 45 sites). Sterilized soil was re-inoculated with livesoil from each site in a fully factorial design (n = 360 pots). Higher seedling biomass occurred in some, but not all, New Zealand soils, which had higher Nitrogen and Carbon and lower pH. Our results suggest that differences in seedling biomass result from a combination of soil nutrients and fungal partners. This may explain why Lodgepole pine grows faster in NZ compared to Patagoniaor USA.